Faith with Benefits

Hookup Culture on Catholic Campuses

Jason King

Based on a survey of over 1,000 students from 26 college campuses, the largest survey of hookup culture on Catholic campuses to date

Offers practical guidance for students on Catholic campuses seeking to escape hookup culture

Faith with Benefits

Hookup Culture on Catholic Campuses

Jason King

Description

Hookup culture has become widespread on college campuses, and Catholic colleges are no exception. Indeed, despite the fact that most students on Catholic campuses report being unhappy with casual sexual encounters, most studies have found no difference between Catholic colleges and their secular counterparts when it comes to hooking up. Drawing on a survey of over 1000 students from 26 institutions, as well as in-depth interviews, Jason King argues that religious culture on Catholic campuses can, in fact, have an impact on the school's hookup culture, but when it comes to how that relationship works: it's complicated.

In Faith with Benefits, King shows the complex way these dynamics play out at Catholic colleges and universities. There is no straightforward relationship between orthodoxy and hookup culture--some of the schools with the weakest Catholic identities also have weaker hookup cultures. And not all students define the culture in the same way. Some see a hookup as just a casual encounter, where others see it as a gateway to a relationship.

Faith with Benefits gives voice to students, revealing how their faith, the faith of their friends, and the institutional structures of their campus give rise to different hookup cultures. In doing so, King addresses the questions of students who don't know where to turn for practical guidance on how to navigate ever-shifting campus cultures, reconciling their faith with their relationships. Students, parents, faculty, administrators-indeed, anyone who cares about Catholic teenagers and young adults-will find much of value in this book.

Somewhat Catholic Culture Campuses9) Hooking up for a Few, Relationships for a Few, Nothing for the Rest10) Catholicism: There If You Want It But Not In Your Face11) Supporting Students

Conclusion: Four Benefits of FaithAppendix: Methodology

NotesBibliography Index

Faith with Benefits

Hookup Culture on Catholic Campuses

Jason King

Author Information

Jason King is Professor and Chair of the Theology Department at St. Vincent College. He has published essays in the Journal of Catholic Higher Education, Religious Education, Horizons, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, American Benedictine Review, and the Journal of Moral Theology.

Faith with Benefits

Hookup Culture on Catholic Campuses

Jason King

Reviews and Awards

"[S]hould be the go-to book for those involved in undergraduate student life in Catholic higher education."--Sociology of Religion

"[T]his book is probably most appropriate for those interested in understanding campus cultures. In particular, King makes many recommendations for people that work for Catholic colleges and who want to provide students with an alternative to the hookup culture."--Reading Religion

"For those concerned about Catholic universities, Faith with Benefits is essential reading. Jason King provides a complex, sympathetic, but unflinching account of the coercive effects of hook-up culture and the many ways students negotiate it. King is an engaging writer, attentive to the complexities of Catholic subcultures, and well-placed to offer a way forward for the majority of students who seek alternatives to the prevailing norm." --Julie Hanlon Rubio, Professor of Christian Ethics, St. Louis University

"The sexual practices of young Catholics often seem inconsistent with their faith commitments-contradictory in terms of how they articulate the goods of friendship and healthy relationships. In Faith With Benefits, Jason King gives us a framework to start to make sense of it all. He combines social research with theological insight and offers us an illuminating picture of what is happening on Catholic campuses and why." --David M. McCarthy, author of Sex and Love in the Home

"King's book is a necessary addition to hookup literature. Looking specifically at Catholic colleges and universities, he argues there are four hookup cultures, not one. His research suggests a student's religious faith can assist her in generating relationship-forming practices antithetical to stereotypical hookup culture. In short, this is a must read for college educators and administrators, especially those at Catholic institutions, who seek to empower young men and women to pursue healthy personal relationships." --Kari-Shane Davis Zimmerman, Associate Professor of Theology, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Faith with Benefits

Hookup Culture on Catholic Campuses

Jason King

From Our Blog

I attended to different campus cultures and their supporting institutional structures, attempting to understand how their differences might affect hooking up. When I did, I found not 'a' hookup culture but four different ones.

Students hook up. They have sexual encounters with no implications for subsequent relationships. Far from being the majority of students however, it is a small minority, somewhere around 20% of students. Moreover, these students share other characteristics: they tend to be white, wealthy, and attend elite schools.